HP has been ever so consistent with its laptop portfolio, even dominating the PC market in India as per the latest Q1 2026 data from IDC. That they’re known for laptops is not a surprise. It’s been nearly a decade that HP last launched an Android tablet in India. The company has taken its time, surveyed the market, and decided that thanks to the spike in RAM prices and the limited availability, it’s the right time to jump right back into the tablet game. So, say hello to the OmniPad 12.
The hero of this product, and something I’ll keep praising the company for, is that the keyboard is bundled as part of the standard package. That’s an insane value, when the likes of Samsung, OnePlus and Xiaomi all have tablets with the keyboard attachments sold as a separate accessory. At a time when manufacturers are pitching these tablets as “workplace” or “productivity” focused devices, HP is clearly the only one actually following this motto.
HARDWARE AND KEYBOARD
Using the OmniPad12, it is clear that much thought has gone into this product. With a superbly built tablet, you’ll feel at ease knowing you’re buying a product that can stand the test of time. At least from a build perspective, the OmniPad 12 is a classy looking product and has a great in-hand feel. With the keyboard attachment though, it does becomes a little bulky.
The keyboard’s fold-over mechanism takes a while to get used to. It isn’t like the Microsoft Surface that has a stand at the bottom which can be pulled out for support. For the OmniPad 12, the keyboard flips out from the top. Once you figure out the stand, you’re faced with the fact that it is quite unusable on a lap, as it is very unstable. It won’t be a problem though if you’re using it on a desk.
The keyboard itself is fantastic. The key travel is good, as is the feedback, and typing for long hours is comfortable. The keys are not backlit, which is a miss at this price-point. The less said about the touchpad, the better. One has to really press hard at times to open something or drag and drop.
To get back to the tablet, at 7.3mm thick and just 600g, this is a very well designed device. It’s remarkably lightweight for a 12-inch tablet with a large 31Wh battery. It’s 12-inch LCD touchscreen was a boon during my workdays. The touch response was fantastic, and I could even type out multiple long messages with the on-screen keyboard, though I wouldn’t recommend that. It has 100 percent sRGB coverage, and the colours are vibrant and punchy. With a 2K resolution, text and visuals are crisp. Video playback also outdoes the competition thanks to a vibrant screen and the quad-speaker setup. That said, a higher refresh rate would have been welcome.
HOW DOES IT PERFORM?
While most Android tablets have a similar overall software experience, the differences come down to the choice of hardware. So, HP equipping the tablet with a two-year-old Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset was a big mistake, especially when competing devices from OnePlus and Xiaomi easily outdo it in this respect. Using a budget mobile platform in a “productivity” tablet is just not going to work.
For regular tasks, the OmniPad 12 runs just fine. The tablet comes with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM. But it starts hitting a wall when you’re constantly switching between apps and multitasking. One of the things I noticed is that Tablet Mode works far better and smoother than Desktop Mode. While gestures and keyboard shortcuts work just as intended, there are some software quirks that I just can’t get used to.
In Tablet Mode, if you’re using two apps side-by-side, then you can’t change their orientation. If Chrome is on the left, and Google Docs on the right, you can’t make the one-tap switch like you can on several other Android tablets. My other gripe is that I can’t open two iterations of the same app side-by-side. If I wanted to type two documents simultaneously, then I’d have to open one in Google Docs, and one in a different app. These may be small software hitches, but they can certainly hamper your productivity. Switching between the modes is seamless and having a “Windows” experience on an Android tablet is something I quite appreciate. The tablet comes preloaded with just three apps, and I appreciate how HP has kept the bloatware to a minimum.
One other miss in the OmniPad 12 is the lack of a fingerprint sensor or facial recognition. Having to input your pin every time you want to unlock the device is annoying. It isn’t a dealbreaker though.
A USEFUL RE-ENTRY?
With a starting price of ₹48,999, the HP OmniPad is priced in line with the competition. The keyboard accessory is bundled, the LCD display is bright and vivid, the laptop flies through a workday without needing to charge it and a clean Android experience awaits you. The value proposition is high.
It’s only when you start looking at the chipset that you see the limitations of this tablet. While HP has found great success with laptops for decades, its journey in the Android tablet market has been tumultuous. One hopes that the OmniPad 12 signals a growing portfolio from HP. It’s a good start and one that will best serve the needs of students. If HP can build upon this, and the memory chip crisis can stabilize, then the Android market will have a bright new entrant, and more options for consumers is always a good thing.
Sahil Bhalla is a Delhi-based writer. He posts @IMSahilBhalla.